Power pair: Cari Curtis, left, and Stacey Harbour, marketing managers for Energizer Holdings, at Energizer headquarters near St. Louis, with a host of new batteries and smartphone and tablet chargers.

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Sales of its traditional AA batteries have been flat or declining for the past several years. The most popular devices today — Apple iPhones and iPads, Research In Motion's BlackBerrys and products that run on Google's Android operating system — use batteries manufactured in Asia, researcher iSuppli says.

But as consumers flock to digital mobile devices that come with proprietary rechargeable batteries, Energizer sees a business opportunity.

"Battery drain is higher" than ever, says Cari Curtis, a product manager with Energizer. Just ask anyone in an airport who's desperately looking for a plug to recharge their next-to-dead phone.

"We want to provide portable power for smartphones and tablets," Curtis says.

Energizer's last attempt to solve the problem — the Inductive Charger — was released in 2010. The device lets you place products directly on its face instead of plugging in, but it wasn't a hit with consumers.

So this fall Energizer plans to roll out three potentially easier-to-use contemporary charging products:

•Instant charger ($17.99 and $19.99). The compact unit fits in a pocket or purse and uses AA batteries to recharge a smartphone or tablet.

•Portable smartphone charger ($54.99). Available in October, the device plugs into the wall for a recharge, and can then provide instant power for a smartphone that's either run out of juice or is about to.

•Charging case ($64.99). This charging sleeve wraps around the iPhone and doubles the battery life.

Other companies — ones with smaller footprints for the most part — already are making inroads in the smart-charging market.

Innergie, a Taiwanese start-up with marketing offices in San Francisco, offers a host of USB chargers for laptops, phones and devices.

Its tiny $79.99 PocketCell, similar to Energizer's portable charger, plugs into the computer for an hour to get juiced up, and then you can use it to revive a dead smartphone or tablet. In release since January, "We can't get enough of them," says Danny Sanchez, a marketing manager with Innergie. "That's our biggest problem."

Still, Energizer, given its brand recognition, could get major attention for its new portable power products, and "possibly open a new market" for the company, says Morningstar research analyst Lauren DeSanto. But Energizer will need "to promote (the chargers) heavily and convince consumers to buy them. … Consumers won't stumble onto them."

The Apple Store, where many iPhone customers congregate, doesn't stock chargers, and the normal outlets for batteries — Target, Walmart and Home Depot— tend to focus on batteries first, not chargers, she explains.

A battery-filled history

Yet it's clear that batteries are still important to Energizer Holdings, which was spun off in 2000 by Ralston (now Nestlé Purina). The company, formerly Eveready Battery of Danbury, Conn., has been based here since 1986 when Ralston bought it.

There's nothing flashy about its headquarters here in a nondescript office park in a suburb of St. Louis. Yet visitors are met in the lobby by a big pink bunny and batteries of all letters (AA, AAA, C, D) and brand names ("Max" and "Ultimate"). Some 5.5 billion batteries industrywide are sold yearly in the U.S., product manager Stacey Harbour says.

Downstairs, in the Innovation Center, Energizer has all of its current products on display, from a new line of more powerful lithium AAs (which the company says add another 100 to 200 flashes to a camera) to chargers for flashlights, hearing aids, toys and devices, and new offerings, such as lighting products for the home.

Some 47% of Energizer's annual revenue — $4.6 billion in 2011 — still comes from batteries, the company says. But the "wet shave" division, which includes Schick razors and blades, accounts for a greater share of the profits. Even so, "batteries are a cash cow," says Bill Chapell, an analyst at Atlanta-based equity research firm SunTrust.

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